Shaking bass response speakers have been known for many years. These speaker systems are often utilized in the home theater market and are typically configured to be connected to furniture such as home theater seats so that upon receipt of a sound of a low frequency such as 20 to 80 or 100 Hz, not only does the speaker normally provide sound at that level but it also physically shakes the seat. Not only do these speakers work well for movies such as those with amplified bass sounds but they also work well with video games, particularly those with loud bass noises to provide enjoyable kinesthetic experiences. These type features have become so commonplace that at the lower end they are quite inexpensive. The design of these speakers are typically no more than about 2-3 inches tall and 4 to 8 inches in diameter.
An improvement over this basic design are tactile transducer speakers such as the TST429 made by Clark Synthesis. These transducer speakers are described by the manufacturer as being originally developed for military and commercial training simulators and provide an extended frequency response over simple bass shaker speakers which typically stop shaking above about 100 Hz. Instead of these high end tactile transducers can impart vibrations over a frequency range of 5 Hz to 17 kHz which covers much of the audio range of humans. These speakers are also limited in construction to about 8 inches diameter and a height up to and less than 2½ inches. These speakers are designed to be connected to a high end home theater furniture, theater risers, platforms, floors, simulators, gaming systems and pro-sound equipment to shake those structures.
The retail price of these speakers currently exceeds $500 a piece online, but are an excellent quality product.
A need exists to be able to bring the kinesthetic speaker sensation of high end audio to the masses.
Another need exists to bring the kinesthetic feel over and above the bass shaker speaker technology (i.e., with frequencies over about 100 Hz) to the consumer.
Another need exists to bring shaker speakers to the portable speaker environment for at least some embodiments.